


In Memorium

by Readerofmuch



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Happy Holidays to not to cry, wow this is sadder than I meant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 23:24:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9041081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Readerofmuch/pseuds/Readerofmuch
Summary: Eiffel takes a minute to breath, after so long. Breath, and react.





	

**Author's Note:**

> StormyBisexual wanted a fic that featured everyone taking care of Eiffel. I started out for that but, well... Suffice it to say, things changed in the writing. Still, I hope you enjoy it! Happy Holidays!

Eiffel was still reeling. Jacobi and Kepler had been moved to makeshift jail cells, with bonds double and triple checked. Jacobi was nearly catatonic. Kepler seethed with hateful vitriol and violent promises. Eiffel was tired. He was just so tired. 

Warm brown eyes hiding an ocean of pain. A smile, rare and precious. Bad jokes and backup plans. God he missed her. 

His quarters felt strange and foreign. Unwelcoming. He knew he needed to be doing something, knew that he should move. He couldn't quite bring himself to. Instead he sat and he remembered. 

Lovelace had always been strong. Even when he was sick or still trying to push his heaping mound of trauma up the hill again before it rolled back and crushed him she was always ready to haul him up by his collar and tell him to keep going, that he could do this. It didn't hurt that she played a mean game of zero-g poker. He missed her her smile, her voice, her presence. He missed her so much it hurt. 

The station creaked, loudly and suddenly. Eiffel pulled himself out of his stupor long enough to make sure they weren't all about to die. 

“Hera? We cool, or is everything about to go Titanic on us again?”

“Everything is f-f-fine officer Eiffel, just a minor solar flare. Lieutenant Minkowski wants you in the briefing room in twenty minutes, b-b-by the way.” 

“I’ll- tell her I'll be there. Thanks Hera.”

“Don't worry about it.” 

Silence fell again. Eiffel twisted in the air, settling into a more comfortable position. He sighed. Nothing happened. He sighed again, just for the heck of it. He was as alone as he could ever be on this floating casket. Hera left him alone, this time. It was nice, knowing that for once she was on his side, really and truly. There was no mad scientist to tear out her brain or programmer to change her mind and twist her alignment from chaotic good to lawful evil. 

Eiffel missed both of them, of course. He missed sarcastic Russian gibes and long, complicated answers to questions he hadn't even asked. Maxwell had been a cane toad, something foreign that was starting to take over but that didn't mean he wanted her dead. She told good jokes, even if half were in binary and she made Hera feel better. She stopped the pain and that justified a whole lot of things in his opinion. 

Hilbert though. He should hate Hilbert, did hate Hilbert. After all, Hilbert had experimented on him, tortured him and ripped his best friend’s brain out. Hilbert had been a constant and, when the new kids on the block started whipping out the dynamite, even an ally. The idea that he, of all people, could be gone… It was impossible. 

But here he was. The impossible had happened. Aliens and death and Minkowski with a gun and and and until it was coming out of his ears. There was always more and aliens were just the cherry on top. 

Eiffel uncurled and stretched, careful not to push himself away from the wall and up stranded in the middle of the room again. Before he had a chance to clean himself up and leave, someone knocked. 

“The empty man cometh,” said Minkowski’s voice from the other side of the door. “Can I come in?”

Doug pushed off the wall and hit the button to let her in. The door opened and Minkowski floated outside, unmoving.

“Eiffel I'm-” she started. She didn't continue. Eiffel took the pause, that stretched moment of silence, to look at her. 

Minkowski looked as tired and broken as he felt. As the moment stretched, he moved forward and hugged her. Despite the lack of gravity, they held each other up. Soon, they would need to move. Soon, they would need to have serious conversations about what happens next. For now though, for now they could hug. For now, they were enough.


End file.
